The Top On-Page SEO Factors That You Need to Pay Attention To

As the average small business is set to spendaround $75,000 on digital marketing this year, it’s important to find budget sparing alternatives. On-page SEO is an effective way you can boost your digital marketing strategy, and all it will cost you is time.

1. Keywords Still Matter

Optimizing your website for the keywords you’re targeting should always be evolving. You need to constantly stay on top of trends and research keywords that matter to your audience.

Google is always trying to improve its algorithms to understand human language better. Although it may be tempting to use the exact keywords that you’re targeting, you need to make sure that you’re not inadvertently keyword stuffing. Feel free to use synonyms related to your keywords, and write quality content for your users and not just for the search engines.

2. Image SEO

Images are a great tool for breaking up content, giving your readers a place to rest and also make your page more visually appealing. Big walls of text are difficult for visitors to consume. Images are good for making your pages user-friendly. Additionally, you can use each image to increase your on-page SEO. Every one of your images should have a title tag added. A title tag is a great place for you to use some targeted keywords. Having said that, it is important to make sure that the images that you are using are related to the keywords. Stuffing your targeted keywords in an image that isn’t related to your keywords won’t help your SEO efforts.

3. Page Titles

Using appropriate H1 tags for your page titles should not be underestimated. Google’s search algorithms need a way to differentiate the title from the rest of the content, and H1 tags do just that. Think about H1 tags the way you would think about the title of a chapter in a book, as the title is a good indicator of what you can expect the rest of the chapter to be about. Make sure you strike a balance between what you’re interested in and what your readers are. This will help you choose topics that you’re passionate about, while helping you rack up more site visitors. With the right introspection, and keyword research your page titles and content will reflect this.

4. Meta Descriptions Matter

One of the most overlooked elements of building a site or creating a new page is to include ameta description. This is an element that needs to be unique for every single page that you add. Meta descriptions will affect your CTR. Optimizing a website is very technical, and sometimes it can be difficult to switch that the technical part of your brain off to write a creative and clickable meta title/description. You want to ensure your meta description gives a user a reason to click, but also that sets the right expectations. You don’t want people click through to your website only to leave after a few seconds. This will impact your overall bounce rate which is an SEO factor.

5. Your URL Structure Helps

Your URL structure can be easy to forget, but is something you need to take into account. Your URLs should use keywords that you’re targeting for each page. Dedicating pages to your keywords and using those keywords in your URL, is a good indicator of what your page is about. Remember to avoid using symbols, numbers, and capitalization. Capitalizing your URL can lead to duplication of your pages which will hinder your SEO efforts. Furthermore, URLs after the domain name can be case sensitive.

On-Page SEO Is a Powerful Tool to Take Advantage of

On page SEO seems simple, but is often overlooked for the more “glitzy” pursuits like link building. If your content and on-page factors aren’t matching up, then your link building efforts aren’t going to have the effect that you hope they will. Think of it as your way of communicating what your website is about to Google. On-page SEO is not a “one and done” job. It requires constant updates and tweaks. It’s not a static process, and you should treat it as an art rather than a science.